I've been reading "Hold on to Your Kids" and was just thinking about the lack of family focus in the kids' media. A lot of books, movies, etc. seem to be a kid with his friends (very peer focused). I was wondering if we could put a list together of family-focused media.

Here are some examples I've thought of so far:

The Family Book

My Neighbor Totoro (book and DVD)

Little House on the Prairie

The Seven Chinese Sisters (no parents in this, but siblings)

"The Littles" books

Henry and Mudge (sometimes has the family throughout the story)

Little Bill (books, VHS (!) )

I just looked through all of our DVDs and almost all of them were all peer-related. The only exception was Totoro. I think we definitely need some DVDs that show positive family role models!

The Saturdays and following books by Elizabeth Enright
A Wrinkle in Time, Madeleine L'Engle
The Frances books, Russel Hoban
The Knuffle Bunny books, Mo Willems
Charlie and Lola picture books and TV series (books are by Lauren Child)

All of a Kind Family by Sydney Taylor is an outstanding book about a Jewish family with five daughters living in NY in the beginning of the 20th century. It's probably my favorite depiction of a family unit in literature.

There is, of course, Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimh. A mouse mom and the kids have to move their house away from the field, so that it doesn't get plowed, but one of the children is sick. I think it shows a very tight knit family as well.

I also love Judy Blume's Tales of Fourth Grade Nothing. That's a laugh-out-loud kind of book about what it's like to be a big brother.

What a great thread idea...

New endeavor coming soon...Raising Alice in Wonderland (DSD, 17), and in love with a Superman

I'm just thinking through the books and shows my kids like, and can think of a few -

Little Bear - the books and the cartoonMax and Ruby, and Charlie and Lola - no real parental involvement, but siblingsPonyo - Sosuke's family is portrayed so honestly - they aren't perfect, but you can tell they love one anotherFerdinand - maybe this is a bit far-fetched since Ferdinand's mom makes only a small appearance in the book, but it is such a positive portrayal, that I think it deserves to make the list

And I can think of a lot by Russell Hoban. Besides the Frances books, there's
They Came from Aargh!, The Great Gumdrop Robbery, The Flight of Bembel Rudzuk, The Sorely Trying Day, Emmet Otter's Jug Band Christmas, and The Mole Family's Christmas.

chapter books:
Ronia the Robber's Daughter - Astrid Lindgren
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
Happy Little Family - Rebecca Caudill
The Princess and the Goblin - George MacDonald
At the Back of the North Wind - George MacDonald
The Birchbark House - Louise Erdrich
Igraine the Brave - Cornelia Funke
Inkheart, Inkspell, and Inkdeath - Cornelia Funke

Yotsuba& is about 50% her with her dad, 50% with the neighbor kids. And the neighbor kids are constantly with their family doing family stuff.
Chi's Sweet Home is entirely about a family and the kitten they bring home.

Baby and Me is another 50/50 one.

Most of E. Nesbit's books are with groups of siblings and the parents come in occasionally.

Edward Eager's books the Half Magic set are siblings doing things, the Well Wishers set is mixed age friends doing stuff, but with lots of interaction with parents/guardians too.

This might be a given for you (OP) after reading HOTYK but I wanted to mention that reading with (for independent readers, obviously) and especially watching with (with movies/TV) your child is probably the most important aspect of this discussion, even more so than the orientation of the characters in the show/movie/book. (This is coming from a woman who was primarily TV attached as a child! I gave up on my parents AND my peers in favor of the constant of the Disney Channel! )

You've gotten some really good suggestions already. Also, how about The Donna Reed show? You can get it on dvd. It is all about the family's interactions and the closeness is very nice. Also, The Attachments catalog has lots of great AP family books. www.Attachmentscatalog.com